Jones opts for the tried and tested

THE major talking points about the Australian team to face Ireland are the omission - from both team and subs bench - of Stirling Mortlock and Chris Latham, the man who ran in a world record five tries against Namibia last Saturday), and Alastair Baxter’s replacement at tight head prop by Ben Darwin.

However, all of this had been flagged well in advance and, indeed, the only change from the side that beat Argentina in the first round of pool matches is Darwin for Baxter. Mortlock and Latham must now be wondering if their World Cup, barring injuries, has already come to an end. Eddie Jones insisted this was not the case.

"Stirling had a fine match last week and we are extremely happy with his progress but at this stage we prefer Matt Burke at outside centre," the coach insisted.